When we think of craft, we tend to picture tradition: skilled hands patiently repeating techniques and materials that have changed little over time. Contemporary craft in Japan occupies a strange double space, as it does globally. Practitioners earn respect for their deep knowledge and highly refined skills, yet that recognition is often clouded by the assumption that mastery of historic materials and techniques necessarily means that an artist is looking to the past.
Designer and engineer Hideki Yoshimoto founded “Craft x Tech” in 2024 to counter this misapprehension, offering a platform for fresh creative collaboration that utilizes craft knowledge. Together with design curator Maria Cristina Didero, the project pairs selected Japanese traditional craft houses with international contemporary designers, choosing a specific region within Japan for each round, where the international artists work alongside artisans for the new works to take shape.
For 2026, the project has focused on Tokai — an area rich in ceramic, washi paper and textile culture that spans Aichi, Gifu and Mie — and the result is a set of beautifully designed objects that are currently on display at the London Design Festival.
Craft Meets Technology
For Yoshimoto, craft can be seen as a form of technology, and when the problem-solving skills and knowledge of a maker are seen as important in their own right, exciting things can happen.
The outcomes of the Tokai Project bring together very different design approaches, while prompting both the Japanese and international participants to reflect on their own practices. British designer Bethan Laura Wood’s collaboration with Nagoya-based shibori makers Arimatsu Narumi Shibori, for example, pushed the dyers to experiment with colors and processes beyond the conventions they typically work within. For Kataginu, they explored new approaches to shibori, which artisan Hiroyuki Murase described as an “extremely rewarding experience.” Wood, meanwhile, said the collaboration opened up a new way of working that she would like to continue.
The six pieces on display at the V&A range from an architectural rethinking of paper shoji screens to a modular ceramic furniture and lighting system. Together, they offer a delicious example of what craft can offer when it is treated as a body of knowledge with space to explore.
When to Visit
Craft x Tech Tokai Project is on view now at the V&A Museum, London, until September 30. The exhibition is in the Simon Sainsbury Gallery, Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64b.
Admission is free, and open daily from 10am to 5:45pm.
